Poem of the Week: ‘Why I Drink Whiskey’ by Ashley Parker

Cultured Vultures Poem of the Week

You can never have too much of a same thing, or so the saying goes. We’d like to argue that as we’ve had a tough time trying to select a winner for Poem of the Week.

Before we reveal the winning poem, let’s take a look at the fantastic efforts which scooped second and third place.

 

3rd Place

‘Go’ by Shamik Bhattacharya

I wanted to go,

 

Therefore I couldn’t.

 

I stayed,

 

Too long for this to happen.

 

What have we done to each other?

 

Keep calm.

 

No need to panic.

 

Everything will be all right.

 

A little blood spilt here and there.

 

Love is suffering and yet,

 

There is a pleasure in all this we do,

 

To keep our broken mirrors with each other.

 

So that once in a while,

 

We live our lies,

 

More fully more daily,

 

In our memories,

 

We leave together or we don’t leave.


Do you understand me?

 

2nd Place

‘First Date’ by Cassandra Dallett

I got his number at the tire shop

my home girl had hit the curb hella hard and fucked up her rim

I got the white boy’s number who worked there too

but the brother called right away.

I left my baby at home girl’s house

and he picked me up

we drank in his trunk tilting paper cups

and telling war stories down by Van Ness

after sandwiches at Tommy’s Joint

we went to the new theater

sprawled the front row seats through Ronin.

Later on we made a run to the Avenues

and dropped a sack at a cheap motel

cutting back through the Presidio

the truck filled with blue light

we got pulled over right outside the gate.

He looks at me

I look at him

he throws something out the window

and pulls into a parking place.

The cops take him over to the curb to question him

he starts to rub his stomach

tells them he feels sick

leans down into sprinter’s position

and he’s gone.

The cops run off after him all leather-belt radio-belly

and I’m just sitting there

alone again in a streetlight puddle

it’s cold in the white Bronco

the white rocks in the street

and here I am

out the house after dark

I got a babysitter

and I’m on a first date.

 

1st Place

‘Why I Drink Whiskey’ by Ashley Parker

i drink whiskey because

after so many

shots

something like a dragon wakes up in my stomach

and crawls out my throat with the exhalation of cigarette smoke

i drink whiskey because the dark brown

mingles with the fire in my veins

and the wild south of my soul is reawakened —

a part of my soul that lingers between the brick dust x’s on marie laveau’s grave and alleyways in the french quarter of New Orleans

stirs up like a ghostly collection of downy feathers

and the fear that is carved into my ribcage seeps out

i drink whiskey because the salt of my fingers plays

with the back of my throat

coaxing all this fear out, chased with mason jars of water

i drink whiskey because it makes me feel ugly and fierce

because it makes it easier for me to burn bridges and sever ties

i drink whiskey because it makes being used by men with pretty faces and holes in their dead chests easier to swallow

i drink whiskey because snarling rage needs to be let out sometimes

i drink whiskey because it sobers up my head

i drink it because it helps me forget that i didn’t say no

i drink it because it makes me angry about what you did

what she did what my grandfather did what I’ve done

i drink it because i remember the way your hand pushed mine down and the way your hand curled into a fist in my hair and yanked at the top of my dress

& mostly

i drink it because i didn’t tell you no

 

In Ash’s own words:

My name is Ashley Wade Parker– I live in a shed…no, really. It’s a shed. 

At the moment I am occupied as resident Manic-Pixie-Nightmare at the local bakery I call home and heart. Between fucking around with herbs and plants (for medicinal reasons, I promise) and burning bridges,I write these poems. Usually on napkins.

Want to join Ashley as a winner of Poem of the Week? Click here to find out more.

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